Save moving costs with with Spacesaver lift trucks

“To move premises is expensive and disruptive for any business, so it makes sense to explore the possibility of using the existing space in a better way,” said Matthew Allen, Solutions Manager, Counterbalance and Big Trucks, EMEA, for Hyster Europe. “Quite often, the size of the lift trucks used is fundamental to achieving the extra storage space to support growth.

“We have developed some of the narrowest and shortest lift trucks on the market. For example, the Hyster S2.5FT gives 2.5 tonne lift capacity in a footprint equivalent to a 1.8 tonne truck.”

In fact, the smallest truck in the Hyster Spacesaver range is the S2.0FT, which can operate in warehouse aisles as small as 3.54m, making it an ideal solution for busy manufacturing operations. The design also has an integral fork carriage, which maintains higher residual load handling capacity, despite the reduced truck footprint.

With a combination of power, manoeuvrability and performance, the range includes the Hyster S2.0-3.5FT and S4.0-5.5FT series’ which are perfect for manufacturing warehouse operations where space is limited. These trucks are small but powerful, ideal for moving food and drink, electronic products or other finished goods.

For larger loads in small spaces, such as the environments sometimes found in the construction supply chain, Hyster developed the S5.5FTS lift truck that handles up to 5.5 tonnes. With a compact 1.43m wheelbase and 600mm load centre, it is a similar size to a standard 2.5 tonne lift capacity truck. This makes it well suited to applications like construction material storage yards, which could be challenging to navigate with a wider lift truck.

“Various attachments can be added for handling a wide range of loads, such as aggregate bags, bricks, blocks, slabs or coils,” he added. “One Hyster customer for example uses a specialist boom attachment with the S7.0FT Spacesaver forklift to handle six 600kg bags of raw bulk materials at once. This helps to keep their turnaround times to a minimum even when working in a busy warehouse with space at a premium.”

Damage avoidance is vital for many operations, particularly in the paper supply chain, where it can prove extremely costly. In paper reel storage operations, for example, the S6.0-7.0FT lift truck range can help contribute to damage reduction. For instance, users benefit from a high lift capacity truck with a compact frame and shorter wheelbase that enables optimal manoeuvrability around the stored paper reels.

The S7.0FT, for instance, has an overall length of just 4130mm, similar to most four tonne trucks, but provides a seven tonne lift capacity well suited to handling large paper reels. Trucks from other brands with this lift capacity are usually much bigger.

The robust, compact chassis design and high-strength mast design optimises capacity retention at high lifts and these trucks are particularly useful when a front-end attachment is needed, such as the clamps commonly used for paper reel handling.

Customers in the paper industry can also use optional add-ons with Hyster Spacesaver lift trucks to further aid damage prevention. For example, there is a camera solution that allows the driver to place reels down more accurately as they can see the bottom of the reel from inside the cab. 

“With various camera options, telematics solutions and object detection systems, customers can also choose technology that may help support damage avoidance in their particular application,” said Allen.

Part of the Hyster Fortens family, Spacesavers offer an optimal driver environment, low lifetime costs, proven reliability and excellent manoeuvrability, and are tough and reliable enough to take on operations in a wide range of industry applications.

It is possible to simulate the Spacesaver trucks in operation to make sure that the warehouse can cope if arrivals peak at an unexpected time, or the business grows. The Hyster Warehouse Simulator illustrates how the warehouse would actually work and accounts for the random nature of events. It works on probabilities, giving a range of results closely simulating day to day operational variations.